Passenger trains started running again on Saturday morning through the Lötschberg tunnel in the Swiss Alps. This follows repair work inside the tunnel after heavy rains last week.
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The railway company BLS announced that one of the two tunnel tubes reopened at 8.00am on Saturday, allowing passenger traffic to resume.
The two tubes of the 14.6-kilometre Alpine tunnel joining the cantons of Bern and Valais were closed on December 14 after infiltrations were reported. These were caused by heavy rain on the section between Ferden and St. German in canton Valais that led to the diversion of traffic via the summit rail line. Mud, sand and water have now been cleared from one track.
In the second tube, work continues, probably until next weekend. All traffic – including goods – should then be able to resume normally. Currently, part of the freight transport still passes via a longer route over the mountains.
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